The World Health Organization said on Tuesday that it is working with China to manage the risk of a possible surge in Covid-19 infections.
For the agency, the lack of data still points to the national response when people travel to celebrate the Lunar New Year, starting on January 21. In the pre-crisis period, the festivities were seen as the largest annual migration of people globally.
increase in infection
WHO does not yet have enough information to fully assess the risk of the outbreak. News agencies reported an increase in the number of infected people after the suspension of the Covid-zero policy, which occurred in December.
In the procedure between the two parties, one of the topics addressed was mitigating the risks of pre-holiday travel.
Genetic characteristics and estimates of the initial growth rate of XBB.1.5 predicted an increase in cases
There are some very important information gaps, which China is working to fill, said Maria Van Kerkhove, technical lead on emerging diseases and zoonoses.
In an interview with journalists from Geneva, another issue that was the increase in cases from the United States was touched upon. The agency promised to publish a risk assessment of the ȏmicron XBB.1.5 subvariant soon.
increase in cases
And last week, specialists from the technical committee on the virus said, most of these sequences were seen in North American territory, with a rate of 82.2%. It is followed by the United Kingdom with 8.1% and Denmark with 2.2%.
For the group, genetic characteristics and initial growth rate estimates for XBB.1.5 predicted an increase in cases, mostly in the United States.
At the news conference, WHO emergencies director Mike Ryan praised the country’s “radical transparency” about its data on the spread of the variant, one of the issues that has led to its lack of support for measures to monitor travelers arriving on US soil.
The World Health Organization has called for more international aid to reach universal health coverage
It is considered understandable that similar measures taken by some countries for travelers to China, including testing for Covid-19 and monitoring sewage. He explained that these two cases cannot be compared.”
Universal health coverage
At the beginning of the session, the WHO Director-General advocated for more international aid so that it can reach the agency’s strategy which outlines three goals to support countries towards the Sustainable Development Goals.
With the disruption to health services during the pandemic, it is estimated that a total of 840 million people have been left without access to universal health coverage, 110 million more than expected by the end of 2023.
The global target called for universal health coverage for 1 billion more people by the end of this year, 1 billion more people with improved protection for emergencies and 1 billion more people with improved health and well-being.
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